Intelligence Report Devastating for Democracy

A House Intelligence Committee report has found shocking abuses of surveillance by the FBI.

The implications of the report are devastating to a democracy. The premier law enforcement agency of the federal government wrongly took sides in a presidential campaign.

The report confirms that FBI officials sought to influence the 2016 election. Unsubstantiated opposition research paid for by the Clinton campaign was wrongly used as a basis to wire-tap a Trump campaign official.

Justice Department and FBI employees were trying to influence the outcome of the presidential election. To borrow a phrase from Intelligence Committee Chairman Nunes, this “happens in banana republics,” but it should never happen in a democracy.

It would be understandable if the President and Attorney General wanted to clean house and ask everyone to resign who used a political file compiled by the Clinton campaign as a basis to spy on an innocent American citizen who was with the Trump campaign.